The present invention relates to resque equipment to be used in the passenger cabin of a vessel, especially in helicopters, comprising a guide means, which persons may grasp and follow to an exit.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,442 it is known to use guide ropes in aircraft. From U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,396,039 and 3,408,025 it is known that passengers may use the edge of the luggage rack as a grip when they move. From U.S. Pat. No. 3,408,025 it is known to provide a luggage rack with a ribbon guiding towards the closest exit. None of these known means are quite satisfactory, especially in connection with helicopters.
Experience shows that when helicopters make an emergency landing at sea, the helicopter in most cases will capsize. Due to this knowledge there is, to day, a standard procedure to be used by helicopter crews in case of an emergency landing at sea. This procedure involves use of a guiding/leading hand, i.e. at the moment of ditching--emergency landing--the crew members will open the emergency exits or doors and, if possible, hold one arm out and down along the outside of the fuselage. If the crew manages to get out before the helicopter rolls over, all is well. If not, the crew will remain seated and strapped in their seats until the helicopter has come to rest and the cabin has been flooded. Each crew member will then unbuckle the safety belt and pull himself out of the helicopter by the guiding hand, which has been kept outside the cabin all the time, if that is possible. For well trained helicopter crews who know the aircraft and their own personal emergency equipment, and trust it, such an emergency procedure proved to be quite successful.
Problems will, however, arise if, for instance, a 20 passenger helicopter carrying offshore personnel makes an emergency landing at sea. Such an emergency situation will not just involve a well trained crew, but passengers who might even be on their first helicopter flight and wear their survival suits for the first time. Without a leading hand or an extended leading hand very few of these people will manage to get out of a helicopter rolled over with the bottom up and with the cabin flooded with cold sea water. Panic might quickly spread and be enhanced because in such a chaotic situation people will not know which way to go to the exit. A negative element in this connection is, in fact, also that the passengers are required to wear their survival suits which, due to considerable buoyancy will force the passengers up against the cabin floor. If the ditching occurs in the evening or at night, the situation is, obviously, even worse.